Police investigate threats against Trey Gowdy

The U.S. Capitol Police are investigating threatening emails against Rep. Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina Republican recently tapped to lead a special panel probing the Benghazi terrorist attacks.

The investigation comes after POLITICO reporters and journalists at other outlets received two emails on Tuesday warning that Gowdy would be harmed because of his role in investigating the 2012 attacks.

Gowdy was tapped on Monday to lead a new select committee on Benghazi. His office referred all questions to the Capitol Police.

Capitol Police investigate all threats against members of Congress but they’ve paid especially close attention to death threats — even those that seem improbably — after former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) survived an assassination attempt in 2011.

In 2012, a woman approached Gowdy with a gun while he was sitting in his car in Spartanburg, S.C.